Okay so lovelies I love you all quite dearly. This story has gotten so much beautiful, wonderful attention and it's all because of you guys. Really, I truly love you all! Now I can say that we're getting into the homestretch as all of the arcs are going to start coming together after this chapter. There will also likely be a spinoff (I'm doing so many things I either thought I'd never or swore to never do, such as writing a spinoff) of this story once it is finished. I am planning on keeping it underwraps until I have both finished Samurai and fully written the spinoff (at most only a few chapters). Wowie...
This chapter I also need to disclaim because I'm paranoid like that: The events penned herein have been planned for since like March of this year. I tend not to let reviews sway the stories I write too much because there lies madness in a long, drawn-out story like Samurai. So even though it seems like I may have been giving into reviewers' wishes, I'm not. I just have super smart reviewers who catch on quick :)
ANYWAY: Funfacts!
Funfact: You flood rice paddies for a few weeks before you plant the rice. And most rice plants in Asia are actually designed to grow best submerged in a healthy dose of inches deep water. Yes.
Funfact: The fire referenced here (which I've been also hinting at since like...March) is based on the Great Meireki Fire of 1656. This fire basically leveled most of Edo (modern day Tokyo) and killed over 100,000 people in three days. For reference: Nothing came close to the destruction of the Meireki Fire until the US firebombed Tokyo in WWII, which also killed around 100,000 people. I'm saying that the fire is based on it because in my timeline this is actually the spring of 1658.
Funfact: Sakura is going to turn 18 soon!
Funfact:: Samurai sometimes did leave their masters for greener and greater pastures, there could be problems with that however based on who they and their original lords were. Etc. Masterless samurai basically terrified the living crud out of anyone who breathed, so you never let on that you were between masters at the moment because yeah. Makes things awkward at dinner parties.
Funfact: Japanese carriages are tiny and they have tiny windows in the doors that people would peek out of sometimes. They were also carried by people rather than on wheels and pulled by horses for the most part. People power for the win.
Funfact: You actually do keep a lot of your important records in the butsudan because...that stuff is important! So you let the ancestors look after it when you don't have the time.
Funfact: Akita are loyal to sometimes an almost psychotic extent, and as such made excellent guard dogs which is why Pakkun is no longer banned from snuggling up to his favorite human(s).
Funotherstuff: Sai's name means (as far as I can tell) "talented" so there's that. He has a great talent for pissing people off...
Funotherstuff: Stuff about Sai, because he's fun along with all the related plotpoints that come with him, is about to get real real fast.
And with that, Enjoy!
The routine of gearing up for planting was unchanged for two blissful weeks until just days before they were to start. Asuma didn't appear early in the morning for sparring, and Kurenai made no trek across the rice paddies to do her washing with Sakura. They waited for nearly a half hour before Kakash made the decision to move forward in the day, that they would work around the absence of the Sarutobi family. Kakashi sent Tenzou out into the fields with Sai—the man wanted to paint the fields, and after the highly uncomfortable two weeks while he painted Kakashi and Sakura sitting together, Kakashi was inclined to let the man have his way…while of course getting out of his house and away from Sakura. Tenzou had strict, unspoken instructions to keep a sharp eye on their guest, and to keep an ear out for Pakkun's barking as the dog was left with Sakura in the house.
Kakashi himself set out across one of the many narrow pathways which lined the paddies, headed to Asuma's house. It was rare to visit him there now, but not unheard of—and it was getting later and later in the day, with no signs from his neighbors. The rest of the world seemed to be at peace with itself. The early spring birds were chirruping and singing to one another, while the air was filled with the smell of muddy earth and the dying breaths of winter's chill. The trees were starting to bud leaves, making them tinged with green as they stood proud against the pale blue of the sky. But his blinded eye ached, and he wondered later if that had been Obito giving him a sign that, despite everything, something was terribly, terribly wrong.
Kurenai must have heard his steps coming towards the house because she had the shoji open within moments of his arrival to the house.
"Kakashi, you have to come in—the most awful news has…" her voice wobbled on the edge of tears, and she stopped speaking in an effort to compose herself a little. Kakashi politely looked away from the tears which were drying on her cheeks, focusing on getting his sandals off as quickly as possible. Their house was quite cool—almost cold—as Kurenai led him to where Asuma sat, in apparent shock.
"Asu—" Kakashi's voice froze in his throat when he saw Asuma's ashen face. His friend's eyes were flat, as deadened as his voice.
"Edo burned a week ago—there's nothing left, the fire burned for three days—it might still be burning," Asuma's voice was hoarse, no doubt how Kakashi would sound in an hour—there was more, but already Kakashi was sinking to his knees in disbelief. He thought he heard Kurenai stifle a sob, but he couldn't be sure for the buzzing in his ears and the pounding of his heart.
"They sent runners out to the daimyo, telling them that all the efforts in the city are being directed to rebuilding, towards caring for the survivors…that if they need to know the whereabouts of their families they need to send their own samurai to the capital—my uncle wants you to go look for Iruka and Anko, and to bring them back here with you once you find them." Asuma's voice was bewildered but underlying every word was a note of rising panic, and it showed in his eyes as something tugged viscerally on his heart—forcing even more words to come out of him. His dark gray eyes clenched shut as he continued speaking.
"They…they don't know how many have died yet, but probably thousands at the very lowest estimate…the entire city was burned, even the shogun's castle was damaged. And…Kakashi, you have to know—I would go, but my uncle has forbidden me to endanger myself, I'm his heir in Iruka's absence. He trusts you to be able to find his son." Kakashi bent his head forward slightly in acknowledgment, his mind racing.
"I understand—did he leave word of when I am supposed to leave?" the implicit question—what about the rice planting?—hung in the air between them.
"Two days, to give you time to prepare. He will provide everything you need to get there—money, a fast horse, documentation. We will take care of everything here, I promise you." Kakashi's head sank forward as he acknowledged the orders. His loyalty to Sarutobi was unquestioned across the fief, he was the natural choice for the retrieval of Iruka. Sometimes he had to wonder what kind of person he had been in his last life to have deserved some of the things that happened to him in this one.
"Kakashi," Asuma leaned closer to him, putting a bracing hand on his shoulder.
"I will take care of your family, your rice will be planted on time and properly. Now, you should go—you leave the day after tomorrow. My uncle should visit you soon, probably this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Go."
He was still in shock as he stood and bowed to Asuma and then to Kurenai. His hands were shaking as he closed the shoji behind himself after putting his sandals back on. When he nearly wandered off the raised path into the soggy rice paddy he managed to gain a little control over himself. He had been to Edo as a boy—Fugaku had needed to visit the city for some reason and had taken a ten year old Kakashi along for the trip. The city had been sprawling even twenty years ago, and Kakashi still remembered the vividly peopled streets. High born women in carriages were carried along the thoroughfares, peeking out sometimes from their small latticed windows to give him a sweet smile. The poor bowing left and right, the destitute asking for alms while those with the means crafted what they could and sold their wares to passerby.
That visit had been the only time in Kakashi's life where he had considered leaving Fujimi to seek a master other than Sarutobi. While he had ultimately decided that his duty was to the lord of his father, to his family, and ultimately to his father Sakumo, Kakashi had been sorely tempted.
But that glistening, dirty city was completely destroyed, and its people dead or fled to the countryside. It wasn't truly real until he thought of Iruka, or of Shisui—if Shisui had somehow by some miracle survived the arrests of the Uchiwa family. They could each be dead, burned to death in a nearly mythic fire. If Kakashi had heard of it while in town he would have written off the scale and proportion as being the product of a lonely four day walk across the country—however he was hearing it from the nephew of the daimyo.
Getting closer to the house Kakashi briefly debated on what he should do next, who he should tell first. Tenzou was at the far end of the south field, and while Kakashi knew that if he shouted he could get the brown haired man to hear him…the effort wasn't in him. Tenzou and Sai would do well enough for a little longer, which left Sakura. The sun was trying to peek out from the clouds as he walked slowly into the house. With one hand raised to rub the back of his neck, Kakashi walked softly to the back porch where Sakura was in the yard. She had been spending the last few days fussing over what survived of her vegetable crop.
Pakkun was the first to notice him standing there, leaning against one of the posts, and huffed a bark at him before trotting towards him and nosing into the hand he let dangle at his side. Sakura looked up at the soft sound the dog made, the smile on her face fading away as she took in his expression. She quickly dusted and wiped her hands clean while standing to cross the yard. Kakashi folded his legs underneath himself to sit, his eye sinking closed.
He didn't want to leave, not when they were going to start planting within days. And then there was the fact that he had seen an estate fire once, the entire family had burned to death—he didn't want to see that on the scale of an entire city. He didn't want to leave Sakura with only Tenzou and their odd guest, not when Asuma and Kurenai's attention would soon be focused on their baby. Sakura's hands touched his gently, and he took time to appreciate the feeling of her calluses and the strength in her small fingers. They sat there together on the porch for a few minutes while Kakashi worked on how he was going to break the news properly.
"Are Kurenai and Asuma alright?" Sakura had one of his hands sandwiched between hers, smoothing her fingers across the backs of his own. There was something very soothing in what she was doing, and that somehow gave Kakashi the courage to properly start. With his head bowed forward he opened his eye to look down on their hands as he spoke.
"I'm being sent to Edo, to look for Sarutobi-sama's son Iruka. The city…"he couldn't say it out loud—he couldn't –"the city burned a week ago." He paused to take a deep, steadying breath, "Sarutobi-sama only got the news this morning or late last night. He notified Asuma this morning that in the event of Iruka's passing, Asuma will function as his heir."
He looked up into Sakura's wide green eyes, "I leave the day after tomorrow, at the latest."
He knew that as soon as his master arrived in Fujimi—and event likely to be delayed because of the fire in Edo—that the lives of his hosts would change immensely. Because of this, he went about looking for records which his master could use to improve that change, rather than become a detriment, which he felt was unfair to the small family. The demon woman was sweet to everyone and everything around her—although she had what he might call a temper. He rarely used such words without due cause, and the woman certainly gave him cause. She often took the high ground with him when he tried to suggest different methods of doing things. She said that as the lady of the house she was the final arbiter of decisions made in Kakashi's absence, and that unless he wished to take up her chores entirely he would politely go back to painting.
Despite this, her sweetness remained and as such strengthened his resolve to get his master to help the family.
Kakashi probably kept most of his records where all other normal people did—in the butsudan, for the ancestors and spirits to watch over. So he simply waited that evening until Tenzou dropped off to sleep before slipping from his covers and noiselessly slinking through the house towards the room. Sakura and Kakashi were still out in the bathhouse together, and it was a calculated risk that he took in hoping neither would visit the butsudan before bed.
His guess was the right one. He quickly found out that Sarutobi had increased the land holding by thirty percent, and had increased the stipend on the land by fifty percent as compensation for Kakashi taking him in over the winter. But as he glanced over the other documents he realized that he would have to wait for another evening to read them fully—tonight he just didn't have the luxury for a lengthy perusal. So instead he gathered the papers and scrolls he needed and crept back to the room they had him sharing with Tenzou. Hiding his loot was easily accomplished—although he had had to hang in the air uncomfortably crouched over when Kakashi and Sakura returned from the bath. After four agonizing minutes of complete stillness he was sure they had heard no undue rustles from his room, and he was soon back in his bed.
Less than a half hour passed, and he had just barely started to doze when somewhere else in the house a shoji hissed as it was opened. His eyes—patiently glued shut in preparation to sleep—snapped open as well at the sound of quick footsteps.
He was combing her hair when Sakura decided to tell him. They'd been quiet for most of the afternoon and nearly silent during dinner. Sai and Tenzou had thanked her for the meal before quickly excusing themselves. Kakashi hadn't met her eyes for the most part, lost in his own world of grief and travel plans. He'd helped her put away their dinner, and they'd bathed. Now they were settled down in their room, and it was the best time to let him know.
"Kakashi?"
He paused. Sakura was reminded of another time she had worked up the nerve to ask him this.
"Before you leave for Edo, could you write a letter to my father? For us?" she held her breath as he took the comb away from her hair, and so when it clicked against the floor softly she almost believed it echoed. There was a minute pause. Kakashi's clothes rustled faintly as he pulled her back a little and turned her head to face him. In the flickering light of their lamp she could see the emotions and thoughts going on in his head. A faint, nerve-filled smile pulled a few muscles in his face but he stayed silent.
Sakura glanced away from his face, feeling her own heat slightly under his scrutiny. She turned towards him a bit more and he caught her legs, pulling her close to be cradled in his arms. Kakashi's breathing was shallow, as though he might not catch her words if he dared breathe normally.
"I was going to tell you once I was really sure. I was late last month—completely missed an entire… but Kurenai told me to wait a few weeks. Wait and see if I missed my bleeding again. That way I could have confidence when I told you, when I told you that…" she knew she must have been beet red, and that she was babbling, but she didn't care. She didn't care because of the wide grin which started to split Kakashi's face as he understood, as he got the confirmation of the truth of his suspicions. He laughed a little, shocked and incredulous, while he put a shaking hand to her cheek.
"Say it, please say it," his voice was no more than a whisper.
She wasn't sure she could, but after a few false-starts, it finally came out.
"Kakashi, I think that you're going to be a father," she managed as her own laugh bubbled out of her. She had had to tell him before he left, despite how gloomy his current errand was—the news was far too important for him to hear of it upon his return or even in a letter. His forehead came to rest on hers and they both softly laughed a little longer. Kakashi kissed her cheek and then kissed his way down to her lips.
"I love you, you beautiful, wonderful woman—you could give me no better parting gift than this," he pulled himself away from her to speak, tucking her head underneath his chin while he squeezed her tightly against his body. "Of course I'll write to your father, of course."
When they finally lay down to sleep, it was with Kakashi laying on his side as his arm cradled her head. One of his hands traced idle patterns on her hip. Sakura was quick to fall asleep, she had been feeling quite fatigued by the end of the day for the last week or so.
Kakashi meanwhile couldn't take his eyes away from her, and he was far too keyed up to even shut his eyes. Sakura curled into his side, sighing in her sleep as she turned away from the light of the still-burning lamp. In the soft orange-yellow light her hair looked like it was alive. For a moment, as brief as it was selfish, Kakashi prayed that Sakura would give their child her brightly colored hair. She'd cautioned him that she wasn't yet completely sure, but Kakashi himself was sure. In his life, he found, good fortune followed hot on the heels of catastrophe—and if Edo itself were in cinders that he was left to deal with, was it so hard to believe that his wife had fallen pregnant?
His philosophical introspection stuttered to a halt at that and it hit him once again—he was to be a father by winter. Sakura would give him a child by winter! It was far too late in the night to run to Asuma's, and besides it would be much more appropriate—and easy—to tell Tenzou and Sai. He tried not to wake Sakura as he got up but abandoned the idea when she sleepily blinked her eyes open. A quick kiss was all he gave her as he snapped the shoji open and walked quickly through the house to Tenzou's room—all of this so quickly he didn't see her bemused expression, or the quirk of her eyebrow. Kneeling hastily at the shoji, Kakashi tapped at it briefly in a gesture of politeness.
"Tenzou," he hissed, tapping a bit more forcefully.
"Tenzou!" hearing only a little bit of rustling—likely Sai, the light sleeper—Kakashi frowned before he opened the shoji and let the light from his lamp spill inside.
"Kakashi, what are you—" the brown haired man's words were barely more than a mumble of protest against the sudden disappearance of both quiet and darkness. Kakashi's brain nearly shorted out as he realized for the third time that night the gravity of what Sakura had told him. Perhaps it was his nerves about the upcoming trip to Edo that had him reacting so forcefully, or perhaps he had begun to want this news more than he'd realized.
"Sakura's just told me, she's just told me that she's—that she's—she's—"
"I take it that the H…Sakura has given you reason to hope for an heir?" Sai's voice was a bit more awake, probably from the noise Kakashi had made crossing through the house. His politeness unnerved Kakashi a little bit, but the feeling was fleeting. Tenzou had gotten up and knelt in front of Kakashi, reaching between them to put bracing hands on the white haired man's shoulders, a grin on his face.
"If tactlessly talented over there is guessing right, you have my congratulations Kakashi." Kakashi made no effort to shrug off Tenzou's hands or make little of his servant's words, choosing to grin awkwardly—Sai had been around all winter and had asked enough curious and needling questions that they had dropped the pretense of the Hatake family keeping their servant at arm's length. It was far too hard to maintain the proper distance between family and help, and so they hadn't.
Pakkun got up and followed him out of the room as he awkwardly stood and bid his goodbyes after awhile. It occurred to him that his face hurt from grinning. The dog went to the back door and whined a little, so Kakashi let him out before wandering to the extra room where Sakura retreated to with Kurenai sometimes. They'd been making preparations for the arrival of his friends' child, but now they would soon be doing so for his own as well. He really should have told Pakkun before the dog went outside—he wasn't sure how the runt would react to not being the baby of the family anymore.
But first he wandered, still a bit dazed, towards the butsudan to light some incense for his father and to tell him the good news. The place was silent and hushed, undisturbed as it ought to be. He rang the bell softly, and his clap was subdued, but after that he knelt to merrily tell his father everything.
How Sakura was the greatest gift he had ever had and that now she was soon to carry the family into another generation. He thanked his father for watching out for their family, and expressed his hopes that Sakumo approved of his son's conduct with the family. He also brought the sad news of the destruction of Edo, but tempered it with the hope that Iruka was alive. A soft bark from outside the house distracted him and he quickly made his goodbyes so that Pakkun wouldn't crash through the walls in an effort to get in.
The brown akita panted happily into his face when he let him in and knelt down. They'd finally managed to establish that Pakkun wasn't supposed to lick him, but was allowed to lick just about anyone else around the house.
"Pakkun, you're going to take this hard because you won't understand what's going on, but you're not going to be an only child anymore. Sakura is going to have a baby—do you know that word pup?" Pakkun quirked his head to the side as though considering it.
"Well, it's your job to protect both of them starting today, until I get back at least. You have to keep her safe for me, can you do that?" he wasn't sure if Pakkun was whining or growling, but it sounded like an agreement. He grinned again and ruffled the fur on the dog's head before standing up and heading back to his room. Pakkun waited, hesitant, in the hallway until Kakashi turned and clicked his tongue and gestured to his side—come.
Pakkun would be sleeping in the room with Sakura from now on, until Kakashi himself returned.
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